China’s deal to buy Russian Su-35 fighter jets will be ratified this summer or fall and the supplies will begin after 2016, the head of Russia’s Rostec state corporation Sergey Chemezov said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

China’s deal to buy Russian Su-35 fighter jets will be ratified this summer or fall and the supplies will begin after 2016, the head of Russia’s Rostec state corporation Sergey Chemezov said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

"We have signed, but it hasn’t come into effect. There’s a procedure on ratification. To sign is not enough, it has to be ratified by our side and the Chinese side," said the head of Rostec, which controls companies operating in the defense industry complex.

Chemezov said the ratification is "a long period" and the first delivery will take place "not this year."

Last November, Moscow and Beijing signed a $2 billion contract on deliveries of 24 advanced Sukhoi Su-35 jets (NATO reporting name Flanker-E). China became the first foreign customer of these jets.